THE 12 BIGGEST BREAKTHROUGHS IN MOVIE TECHNOLOGY by Allan Morey STORY LIBRARY
1 Eadweard Muybridge Makes Pictures Move In the mid-1800s a heated debate was going on People argued whether a horse lifted all four feet off the ground as it ran Horses moved their feet too fast for people to see In 1872 British photographer Eadweard Muybridge was hired to settle this argument At the time cameras could take only one photograph Then new 4 film had to be added Also shutter speeds were slow They could not clearly capture fast movement To photograph a horse running Muybridge worked to increase the shutter speed of cameras His could open and snap shut in about 1 1000th of a second Also he lined up a series of cameras In this way he could take several photographs One right after another Muybridge took photos as a horse ran past his cameras The images captured the movement of the horse They showed that it lifted all four feet off the ground as it ran The argument was settled But more importantly Muybridge kept using this method of photography He took pictures of other animals He took pictures of people jumping and fencing To display these photographs Muybridge created the
Muybridge’s zoopraxiscope and circular glass plate with photos zoopraxiscope He placed a series of photos along the edge of a circular glass plate The glass plate spun around A light projected the images onto a wall one right after another This created the illusion of movement Muybridge’s work inspired the idea of moving pictures Or what people now call movies 55 12 Number of cameras Muybridge used to take his first series of photographs Muybridge increased the shutter speed of cameras He invented the zoopraxiscope to show series of photographs Muybridge’s work helped make moving pictures a reality
